So for the first time since 2003, your Denver Nuggets will not be participating in the NBA Playoffs.
The Nuggets were eliminated from postseason contention earlier this week, ending a 10-year playoff run. Of course, that run didn't amount to much -- nine first-round exits and a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2009 -- but then again would you rather have the run of eight straight seasons without a playoff game, as the Nuggets endured from '96 to '03?
That's embarrassingly hard to do in a league where more than half of the teams (16 of 30) qualify for the postseason each year.
Sadly -- or fortunately, if your focus is on the draft lottery -- the 32-40 Nuggets would be sitting in the eighth and final playoff spot in the anemic Eastern Conference, where only four teams are currently five or more games above .500. But, alas, that 32-40 record is only good for 11th place in the West right now.
In any case, the end of the Nuggets' run eliminated the San Antonio Spurs' closest pursuer as Tim Duncan and Co. -- who possess the league's best record at 55-16 -- also currently own the NBA's longest playoff run, having already secured their 17th straight appearance.
After that, no one currently has locked up more than the Miami Heat's sixth straight playoff berths, but the Atlanta Hawks are on target to clinch their seventh consecutive postseason trip over the next few weeks and the Chicago Bulls should also procure a sixth straight appearance.
In the meantime, the Nuggets will be watching on TV -- and calculating their lottery ping-pong ball odds.
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